


in their different ways

by mothicalcreatures



Series: IN WHICH, John Irving and Solomon Tozer Have a Baby [4]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, Jewish Character, M/M, Religious Discussion, sol and irving are trans, the terror decameron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: “My father called today.”“Ah.”“He wants to know when we’ll be baptizing Danny.”--Or, the one where John and Solomon talk religion and raising a child.
Relationships: Lt John Irving/Sgt Solomon Tozer
Series: IN WHICH, John Irving and Solomon Tozer Have a Baby [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679731
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: the terror decameron





	in their different ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teapig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teapig/gifts).



> For teapig, who asked for Solving + Danny and literally anything. Also for the day 10 "free day" Terror Decameron prompt, which I decided I wanted to do as "religion."

John was in the kitchen stress baking when Solomon got home from work, exhausted from an overnight shift, at 9am.

“All right, what’s going on?” He asked quietly, mindful of the baby monitor on the kitchen counter.

John huffed and stopped spooning cookie dough onto a baking tray. “My father called today.”

“Ah.”

“He wants to know when we’ll be baptizing Danny.” 

Solomon grimaced and set his bag down on the floor. He’d known the matter of religion was going to come up sooner or later. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him I didn’t know if we would be,” John said. “I said I needed to talk to you first and then he had the nerve to be shocked that we were still together.”

“Prick,”Solomon muttered, and then, “Sorry.”

John shook his head. “It’s like he thinks that just because he sent me one of my favorite childhood books after months of ignoring me and belittling my choices and identity he gets any authoritative say in how we raise Danny.” He sighed, turning back to the bowl of cookie dough.

“He hasn’t made any effort to talk about things since?” Solomon asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

“No. Despite his ‘please forgive me’ letter, he hasn’t actually apologized for anything.”

“Ugh, of course. I’m sorry, John.”

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy…” He sighed again. “ _Can_ we talk though? Once I’ve got these in the oven?”

“Sure thing, that’ll give me chance to take a quick shower.” Solomon had the five minute shower down to an art.

John nodded and returned his attention fully to his baking.

The shower took a bit longer than five minutes, mostly because Solomon nearly fell asleep on his feet, and when he returned the cookies were out of the oven and John was pacing their small living room with Danny in a sling.

“Sorry,” Solomon muttered, flopping onto the couch.

“Don’t be,” John said. “You look exhausted. This can probably wait until after you’ve slept.”

“Probably, but I’m being taken off nightshifts, so I need to reset my schedule anyway. Besides this has clearly been eating at you.”

John sighed and sat down next to Solomon.

“This all has been very… abrupt,” John began. “This child, our relationship… and I know we’ve spoken, vaguely, of what we might do if things don’t last… but I…”

John trailed off, worrying his fingers on the edge of Danny’s sling, and Solomon reached out to take his hand. “I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon John.”

“I…” John hiccuped. “I’m very much in love you… and I want this to last and to raise Danny with you.”

Solomon let go of John’s hand so he could shift closer and wrap an arm around John to hold him close. He was a bit anxious about where this conversation was going to go (it felt like there was a big “but” hanging over what John was saying), but it also seemed like John was anxious too and Solomon didn’t want to lose John either. It was something of a relief at how easily John relaxed into Solomon.

After a few moments of silence, and Solomon rubbing gentle circles into John’s side, John spoke up again. “I’m… I know you’re Jewish and I didn’t want to assume what religion we’d be raising Danny in without talking to you. I’m more spiritual than attached to any church, if… if you wanted to raise Danny Jewish I wouldn’t mind…”

Solomon was quiet for a moment until he realized that John had gotten quite tense in his silence. “That’s… it means a lot that you would offer that.” He wasn't the most observant, hadn’t been since he left home, but if there ever was a time to become more involved this was certainly it.

“It… would be a learning a learning curve for me I’m sure,” John continued.“But I’d be happy to do it for Danny, for you…”

“It’d be a learning curve for me too,” Solomon admitted. “And there’s also the matter of whether we’d just raise him Jewish or if we'd have him converted.”

“Converted?” John asked, sitting up a bit. “Oh, right… Judaism is matrilineal isn’t it.”

Solomon nodded. “Reform Judaism, which is what my family is, acknowledges patrilineal descent too, but Danny doesn’t even have that, cause I’m not biologically his dad. And Heather’s not Jewish and I don’t think Six Pounder is either.”

John groaned in embarrassment and Danny gurgled in his sling, letting them know he was awake.

“So that would complicate things then,” John said eventually, giving Danny his finger to hold on to.

“Not by too much, I don’t think,” Solomon said. “I’d hardly imagine conversion for an infant would be as extensive as conversion for an adult.” He didn’t know the specifics, but he could probably find out fairly easily. His mother would be thrilled if they actually decide to do this.

John’s only response was a quite hum, but he still looked worried.

“I… would you _prefer_ raising Danny Jewish instead of Christian?” It felt like a dumb thing to ask, but Solomon also wasn’t sure what the end result of this conversation was supposed to be.

“I don’t know,” John murmured. “I don’t think I’d want to convert myself, but it’s a part of you and I don’t want to take that away from you or Danny.”

Something warm unfurled in Solomon’s chest at that. “Why don’t I reach out to my mom and get some more information, cause she’s got plenty of experience with doing all the appropriate baby things between me and my _dozen_ siblings, well technically it’s a baker’s dozen.” John choked on a laugh and Solomon grinned.

“Once we’ve attained her wisdom we can decide if we want to go further and talk to a rabbi,” Solomon continued. “We can take our time, have more discussions, you know? This isn’t a one and done deal. At the very least, _I_ should know what I’m doing, and right now I’m not sure I do.” He was probably going to reach out to a rabbi regardless of what their end decision about Danny was.

John let out a long sigh of relief. “Thank you. I… this is all so much and my dad calling to scold me didn’t help matters.”

“We won’t invite him to the bris,” Solomon said and John sputtered and then tipped into Solomon’s chest, shaking with laughter.

Solomon smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of John’s head.


End file.
